Sell Your Home the First Time!
by Bruce Yeager
1. Curb Appeal: Before many Buyers will enter your home, its got to pass the glance-over from the outside. Buyers look with a keen eye to determine if your home been lovingly cared for! A neat looking, well-maintained home with sharp, contemporary landscaping and an inviting entranceway draws Buyers in is the first step in selling your home.
2. De-clutter: A Buyer is buying your home, not its contents! A neat, clutter-free home instills a sense of confidence. First, Buyers can clearly see what it is they are buying and second, they can move freely around your home. Equally as important, they can visualize the room space and how their furniture may be arranged. More than this, a clutter free home looks larger, potentially leading the Buyer to believe it offers greater value.
3. Repaint: Repainting is the single most effective way to make your home look newer, better maintained and more appealing. The use of lighter colors also makes a home look larger as well. A cleverly chosen contemporary paint scheme will more often match the Buyers needs better, making the purchase decision that much easier. An experienced Realtor or Professional Decorator can let you know what colors are in, ensuring that you make the most of your efforts.
4. Trim: One of the primary differences between homes constructed today verses those sold twenty, thirty or more, years ago is the trim and millwork. The standard has gone up and Buyers are drawn towards luxuries like taller baseboard moldings, chair-rail moldings, picture-frame moldings, paneled wainscoting, and crown moldings! More expensive homes often feature more luxurious coffer ceilings, trimmed-out entranceways and other embellishments around doors and windows. Carefully performed, additional trim work can make a huge impact!
5. The WOW factor: Features alone do not sell homes; what ultimately determines a sale is emotional impact! This subjective response is felt by the Buyer almost immediately, from the time of entry. For this reason, the appearance of the entranceway and foyer are so very, very important. When a Buyer enters your home, you want it to WOW them by creating an impression that they just cannot live without. Accomplish this, and your well on your way to negotiating a closing date.
6. Flooring: Gleaming floors and contemporary flooring products, such as travertine, not only greatly to the WOW factor, but they also generate confidence about the home’s overall condition. Outdated flooring materials (especially badly worn carpeting and outdated linoleum patterns), perform exactly the opposite and turn buyers away faster than you can imagine. Before setting out to refinish your worn hardwood floors however, consider good flooring products from your local hardware store. There are some out there that when used frequently provide a deep, luxurious finish.
7. Kitchen: Perhaps the most important room in the home, and certainly the most expensive, the kitchen at a very minimum has got to be clean and neat. While there are many ways to accomplish this, new appliances for starters, are real turn-ons!! This is particularly true today, as many Buyers know they won’t be able to afford upgrades after putting a down payment on a purchase. New appliances are not only a cost effective solution to selling your home, the installation is also for the most part, quick and easy (unless you have old wiring in the home). Another upgrade that is less difficult and costly than many would imagine is replacing the countertop, sink and facet. Granite and undercount sinks are in fact, rapidly becoming the standard; there not the luxury items they once were. The condition of your cabinets is important, but often outdated cabinets can look beautiful when polished and dressed up with new hinges and handles. Should the quality or design really be questionable, refacing cabinetry is a cost effective solution that often provides better than expected results.
8. Bathrooms: Bathrooms must be tidy, clean and neat. To this end, regrouting and resealing tile and the bath not only looks great, but also may prevent a home inspection issue after sale. Outdated vanities can be a real eye sore, but can be replaced without too much difficulty. Contemporary, low cost granite-topped varieties are available from Lowes and Home Depot, especially if they are a standard size. Of course, new ceramic, porcelain or stone tile will vastly contribute to a bathrooms appeal, but this is a project. If will to go there, consider doing the Powder Room and Master bathrooms first, as Buyers scrutinized these the most.
9. Staging: A clever stager can make a home look more upscale and appealing. If you have a cluttered home and are concerned about its overall impact, then money spent on staging is well spent.
10. Pricing: Last and certainly, not least, a competitive price must be established for your home. Understanding that there is no one out there that is going to pay more than the market rate for other commodities, such as gold, then you will certainly understand where I am going with this. Tools available from Trulia and others, in addition to fair market value tax assessments, mean that your customer is more educated than ever on home value. Consider this in combination with market conditions provoking greater price sensitivity than ever, and make the proper expertise is applied to pricing your home. Work with your experienced Realtor to understand where neighborhood prices have landed recently and how their feature list and location compares to yours. Right pricing out the gate often translates into fewer headaches and more money in your pocket.
Pricing your home fairly and correctly can often be the number one reason for your house selling; consult with your Realtor to understand where similarly priced homes have sold and why!
